Read Aneka Jansen 5: The Greatest Heights of Honour for Free Online Page A

we’re going.’
    ‘And where are we going?’
    Aneka grinned. ‘Somewhere hot.’
    ~~~
    The only light came from the basic readouts on the consoles and the molten lava outside. They had crossed the terminator into night amid the low peaks of an active volcano arc and Aneka had set the shuttle down in one small area that seemed to be relatively safe, a small hill of old basalt surrounded on all sides by streams of molten rock.
    ‘I wasn’t picking up anything,’ Monkey said, his voice quiet. ‘Not a thing. Did they follow us?’
    ‘We don’t know that they had a fix before we left,’ Aneka replied. ‘Whatever it was, it must have had a stealth hull. Isn’t that a little high-tech for pirates?’
    Grumand gave a slight shrug, his eyes fixed on the blackness outside. ‘Yes, but it’s not impossible. They usually scavenge whatever they can, refit with more weaponry. They could have got their hands on a military-grade drop ship. It just seems unlikely.’
    ‘Everything’s quiet back there,’ Delta said as she appeared from the back. ‘The outside temperature isn’t good though.’
    ‘We should be okay in here,’ Aneka replied. ‘Don’t know about you, but I don’t plan on going out.’
    ‘I hadn’t planned to.’ Her gaze swept out over the glowing landscape. ‘You think this’ll mask us from sensors?’
    ‘If memory serves, there’s a fairly high metallic content in the lava, and the heat should stop anyone spotting our infrared signature. Hiding isn’t the problem. We need to…’ She stopped, frowning into the darkness. ‘Do you see that?’
    Everyone looked in the direction she was looking. ‘I don’t see…’ Grumand began, and then stopped as he spotted the long, slim tendrils of what appeared to be lava rising up from a particularly broad section of flow. They were writhing and twisting like snakes. Big snakes. ‘The big brothers of the worms we saw back at the camp?’ Grumand suggested.
    ‘Delta, get Lidia up here,’ Aneka said, her voice tense.
    The biologist arrived a few seconds later. ‘I saw them out the side window,’ she said, sounding enthusiastic. ‘Aren’t they amazing?’
    ‘Amazing, yeah,’ Aneka replied. ‘If they decide to pay us a visit they may not be so amazing.’
    ‘I don’t think they will. The smaller ones seem to be able to move away from the lava more. We’ve seen no evidence of the big ones until now, and they’re sticking to the flows. Maybe they need to keep their internal temperature higher or something. I wish I could scan them to figure it out.’
    ‘Sorry. If we use active sensors…’
    ‘Yeah… I figured that would be the case. If we get out of this alive I swear I’ll push to get another team out here with equipment to study them.’
    ‘I might even agree to bring you.’
    ‘Huh, thanks. So how do we get out of here?’
    ‘For now, we wait. And hope the Hyde isn’t orbiting debris.’
    9.9.528 FSC.
    ‘The ship’s sensors are detecting a tight-beam laser emission,’ Al said. ‘A modulated one.’
    Aneka leaned forward and tapped at her console. ‘Jansen to Garnet Hyde. You still in one piece?’ She was alone in the cockpit having sent everyone else back to get some rest.
    ‘Yes,’ Drake’s voice responded, his voice a little distorted by the transmission medium. ‘We’ve Aggy to thank for that, and some very stupid Herosians.’
    ‘Herosians?’
    ‘Yeah. We can discuss that later. It’s taken us a few hours to find you. Luckily that drop ship is still hunting. They’re about twenty clicks north of your position. If you lift off they’ll blow you out of the air.’
    Aneka frowned. ‘What’s their search pattern?’
    ‘It looks like they’re moving closer with each sweep. Someone figured out you hid among the nearest volcanos. Well I did and some Herosians are brighter than others. You’re just lucky we spotted you first.’
    ‘Any idea how long before they get here?’
    ‘From their flight pattern… an hour,